Weight - 440lb
Catch - 124 Carp, 1 Roach
Weather - Warm, sunny start, rain later.
Match - Garbolino Clubman Qualifer (75 fished) - 6th Overall, 2nd in section
I have to say the qualifying criteria or name of the
Garbolino Clubman competition probably needs reviewing, as its not strictly a
‘clubman’ competition as there were several ‘open’ anglers, including myself
fishing. My view is I’m not good enough to compete in the Fisho or Maver
qualifiers as there are so many other really good anglers who are able to fish
much more regularly than me and this competition is at least a chance to compete
in a national competition.
To qualify for the Barston final I needed to win my section
and I was more than happy to draw with p48, with my section running from p48 to
p54. However, Dave Wilmott turned up on p49 and it’s usually very close between
us when we fish Ivy House, although he has beaten me on the last few occasions,
particularly on Heron lake.
After my 2 practice matches, I had a plan of attack in mind,
which revolved around paste. I could have gone down the pellet route, which if
the venue fished exceptionally and over 500lb was needed would be quicker.
However, I have a lot of confidence fishing paste and based on recent results
felt confident of doing well on it and felt if I got it right 25 fish per hour
was possible. So that was my target.
On the all-in I started at 2+1, but soon came back to 1+1
when I realised, I wasn’t fishing where I plumbed up! After an hour I had 24
fish despite having a 10min spell where I was foul hooking fish, losing 5 on
the bounce, so I cut back on the feed (6mm pellet) which was much better. I
also trashed 2 rigs that snapped around the eye, which also slowed me down.
Going into the 2nd hour I started down the
margins, alternating left and right on a top kit plus a short no.3. Again, I
had periods where I suffered from foul hookers, but when I got the feed right
or even stopped feeding altogether, I got bites instantly and by the halfway
point was up to 75 fish.
The 4th hour proved to be a struggle as I
couldn’t get a clean bite and got more foul hookers. Switching to fishing off
the end of my keepnets during the final hour produced another 30 carp to finish
with 124.
Come the all out I had got through 7-8pts of paste and less
than 2pts of pellet.
I was the first to weigh in our section and 440lb was a PB
5hr match weight and also very briefly the record Clubman match record, so really happy. Dave was next and he had the same number of nets. With his
last net Dave needed 58lb and so far his biggest net was 55lb, however he saved
the best to last to weigh 64lb and 446lb in total, beating me by 6lb.
Well done to Dave, but I must admit I was gutted to miss out
by such a tight margin. I was also 1 out of picking up in the main frame, as
620lb won the match. There were 3x 500lbs and Dave was 5th, which
meant I at least picked up the section money by default.
On reflection you start thinking about what I should have
done different. To be honest I was annoyed to have 2 lost fish because of the
line snapping around the float eye during the first hour, as it shouldnt have happened. I also lost a few
fish and should have switched swims a little sooner than I did. That said, Dave
lost a few fish and had problems with foul hookers, so its all swings and roundabouts.
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